


Mistakes We Should Have Made

by ohjustpeachy



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Press and Tabloids, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 03:49:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20324611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohjustpeachy/pseuds/ohjustpeachy
Summary: The worst kept secret, but a secret none the less.





	Mistakes We Should Have Made

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DarthBloodOrange (DepressingGreenie)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DepressingGreenie/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Behind Closed Doors [!Art]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20010013) by [DarthBloodOrange (DepressingGreenie)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DepressingGreenie/pseuds/DarthBloodOrange). 

“We should keep this to ourselves for now, right?” Tony asked, right after they’d caught their breath in Steve’s bed. So quickly, in fact, that Steve wondered if it was possible for one’s heart to evaporate all together. They’d danced around their feelings for so long before finally acting on them, before falling into his bed for the most wonderful, exhilarating few hours of his life, that Steve could actually feel his face fall at Tony’s question. He immediately wondered how he’d misread things so severely. _ Stupid _. He might be seventy years in the future in a body people generally seemed to find more pleasing, but he still couldn’t get the one person he cared about most to stick around. 

“Oh, yeah, of course. I guess…” Steve studied his hands and willed the words to come to him, the right mix of agreeable and breezy that matched Tony’s, but it seemed impossible. It was hard to believe that just minutes before they’d lay boneless, smiling easily at each other, cats with the cream, both of them. Hard to believe that for once, Steve’s mind had eased, nothing but the steady rhythm of _ finally, finally, finally _ echoing through him. And now this. 

“Okay, wait, Steve,” Tony said, reaching over and laying his palm over Steve’s pleasantly flushed face. “I can feel that brain of yours racing towards the worst case scenario here, and that’s not what I meant, okay?”

Steve draws in a careful breath. “Oh. No?” He’s the opposite of breezy with his heart in his throat, wondering distantly if Tony can tell.

“Steve,” Tony said, not moving his hand, just running his thumb softly beneath Steve’s eye. Steve’s name was no more than a breath, an exhalation against his cheek, saying everything. 

“Tony,” Steve tried. 

“Everything is so _ new _ . The team, _ us _, us leading the team. I’m not… the best at relationships, and the last thing I want is some jackass at The Post on some quest to turn you against me. Besides, Fury’ll make us sign a waiver or something,” Tony teased. He kissed along Steve’s brow bone, reassuringly soft. “It’s not that I don’t want people to know. Believe me, I want to scream it at the top of my lungs, soldier. But at the same time, I want to keep it just for us.” A pause. “I don’t know, maybe that’s silly.”

Steve scooted himself closer to Tony in bed, laying a hand over Tony’s chest and holding it there for a minute before pulling him in close, relief coursing through him. It wasn’t like Tony to think about the press before he acted. Had never been his MO, from what Steve understood, so he knew it meant something that Tony wanted to proceed with caution, rather than announce everything all at once and see what came of it, like he always did. It’s… nice, actually. It gave Steve more hope for the future than he typically allowed himself. 

“Not silly. I get it, I think,” Steve told him. 

Tony looked as relieved as Steve felt, settling in against him. “So we’ll see how it goes?”

Steve hummed his agreement, burying his face in Tony’s hair, and that’s how it begins. 

\--

Things go better than either of them would have guessed. There’s a lot of sneaking around, which adds a layer of suspense, almost like they were in high school or something, sneaking around after curfew. Well, it made _ Tony _ feel like he was in high school. He got a clouded, frowny kind of look when Steve told him that high school for _ him _ was a lot less about making out (no one wanted to) and a lot more about staying healthy enough to go to school long enough to join the army, all while trying not to get his nose broken in another fight.

“I love that nose, though,” Tony said, leaning in and kissing it gently, right on the little bump in the middle that Steve spent years feeling self conscious about. The contented sound Steve made at the touch rendered the whole sad conversation moot.

Despite their mostly careful escapades, they get found out pretty quickly. To everyone’s surprise, Bucky beats Natasha to the punch, catching Steve sneaking out of Tony’s room late one night, a shit eating grin on his face at the wide-eyed look Steve got at being found. 

“I _ knew _ there was something going on with you, Stevie. I just didn’t know it was a _ who _ not a _ what _,” Bucky said, barely managing to whisper. 

“Shh! We aren’t telling anyone yet. We don’t want Fury or the press to know,” Steve told him hurriedly. 

“Are Fury and the press here in this hallway, on their way for a glass of water?” Bucky asked, looking around dramatically. 

Steve rolled his eyes. “You know what I meant.”

Bucky peered at him in the dark hallway. “Your secrets have always been safe with me, punk,” is all he said, laying a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “Besides, we all knew it was only a matter of time before you and Stark got your shit together.” With one more waggle of his eyebrows, Bucky’s gone. 

So, one person knew. It would still be fine. Steve would (and had, on numerous occasions) trust Bucky with his life. His secret relationship would be safe, too. 

Probably. Maybe. 

Shortly after Bucky found out though, Sam started dropping all too obvious hints that _ he _ knew as well, enough to make Steve’s palms clammy with nerves.

“Buck!” Steve exclaimed when he cornered him alone in the kitchen one morning before breakfast. “You weren’t supposed to tell anyone!”

“Oh, you mean Sam? I tell Sam everything,” Bucky said, like Steve should have considered this, and really, he probably should have. His stomach flipped a little. 

“Fine, but don’t let Tony know you know, okay? And for the love of god don’t tell anyone else,” Steve pleaded. 

“Tell anyone else what?” Natasha’s voice made both of them jump. “That you and Stark are the hottest couple of the season?”

Steve just groaned loudly, rubbing a hand down his face in defeat.

\-- 

It went on in a similar fashion, everyone shooting each other knowing looks when Tony and Steve sat near each other in debriefs as Fury sat clueless at the front of the room, smirking at each other over breakfast at their cordial _ good mornings _, despite coming, minutes apart, from the same bedroom. 

It’s wasn’t _ really _ a problem, at least, not at first. The team did a mostly adequate job pretending they knew exactly nothing, and Steve and Tony did an equally okay job keeping things under wraps. It’s a tenuous plan at best, sure, but it kept Steve tucked up in Tony’s bed, lips pliant with kisses until his mind was too preoccupied to really worry about it.

“They might...all know,” Steve confesses one day, between breaths. 

“Mm? Well, they’ll keep quiet, they need me. No more toys for anyone who blabs,” Tony murmurs into Steve’s shoulder, and with the way Tony kept kissing him, all the way down his neck, and across his chest, well, the logical side of Steve Rogers’ brain and all its well-laid plans had left the building. 

Time continued to pass, and they talked sometimes about telling everyone, but it was always more of a passing idea than any real plan. It was _ easy, _like this, just the two of them and the bed and hands in hair while they whispered promises. It made it seem less real, less terrifying, this way. Steve got it now, why Tony wanted this. 

They learned that Tony Stark can keep a secret for six months, and Steve brings him a dozen roses to mark the occasion, relishing the slow smile that spreads over Tony’s face. 

“No one’s ever bought me flowers before,” he confided, brushing a hand through Steve’s hair in thanks.

Steve wrinkled his nose at him. “I find that _ extremely _ hard to believe.” 

“Well, no I wanted them from, how’s that?” Tony replied with a kiss that made Steve’s cheeks match the flowers between them. 

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Steve promised. 

And he did, surprising Tony with flowers every couple of weeks, always a new color or type, with a note explaining what they mean and why he chose them. When Tony went away on a particularly long business trip for SI, Steve pays extra to have flowers delivered to his hotel room in Tokyo, a huge bouquet of Forget-Me-Nots that make Tony, sleep-deprived and emotional as he is, nearly tear up with how much he missed Steve in that moment. And every moment they were apart, he could admit that much to himself now. 

Steve took Tony to dinners that he refused to let him pay for. Sometimes they’re simple: a long walk and hotdogs at Coney Island, washed down with a shared milkshake as the sunset. But there were hours-long dinners with bottles of wine that did nothing for Steve but left Tony pink-cheeked and giddy, looping his arm through Steve’s as they walked home at the end of the evening. Lunches that went for hours and walks through art museums and galleries Tony thought Steve might like, meandering trips through art supply stores _ just to look _. Minutes and hours and days and months spooling out ahead of them like they had all the time in the world. 

They realize, one afternoon, that they’ve found their rhythm. Being together is complicated, that’s still true. They know their relationship can have consequences they’d rather not think about, but the part that was just _ them _ and how they felt about each other? That was simple. They were never as strong or as good or as _ happy _ as they were when they were together. Anyone could see it, if they were looking. But they no longer felt like they were sneaking around and pulling one over on the people around them. In fact, Steve and Tony rarely thought about the implications of their relationship these days.

Which is probably why it was around then that things caught up with them. 

\--

All of their long, lazy dates and gallivanting through the city had the media in a frenzy, buzzing and desperate to know where they’d show up next, if they were dating, and who had initiated what. It was making Pepper crazy, this sudden and _ constant _ barrage of questions and press requests, which is exactly what she told Steve when she cornered him coming back to the tower after a mission one afternoon, her phone held aloft. 

“Have you seen this?” She demands, a photo of Steve and Tony ducking out of a new restaurant on the screen. They weren’t _ doing _ anything, they weren’t even holding hands, but the look on Tony’s face was… Is that how he always looked at Steve? So happy and fond and… Steve is smiling like a dope, he realized at once, and hadn’t even answered Pepper’s question. He did his best to compose himself. The picture left _ very _ little to the imagination, as far as how they felt about each other. 

He stammered out an answer, looking everywhere but at Pepper. “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he hedged.

“This picture is _ everywhere _ right now. It looks like you’re dating, which I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you _ are _. Look, Steve, I’ve been managing and crisis controlling Tony Stark for a long time now. I hate being the last to know things that are about to cause a shit storm of work for everyone involved. Now please, tell me, how long have you been seeing him?” Pepper stared at him until he felt his resolve weaken. 

“Eleven? Uh… eleven months. Almost a year now,” Steve confirmed almost proudly when he realized they’re approaching yet another milestone. Nearly a year of dating Tony Stark, and things were going all too well. The cat was bound to come out of the bag sooner or later, and he had a sinking feeling that the time is right now. 

“Eleven _ months _ ?” Pepper repeated, incredulous. “Who else knows about this? Just a head’s up, there’s only one correct answer here and that is _ nobody.” _

Steve swallowed and gave her a smile, hoping to earn himself some sympathy. “Nobody,” he promised. “Well, Bucky knows, but only because he found me coming out of Tony’s room once months ago. And Sam, because he’s dating Buck, but you knew that, uh… right? And Natasha, because she’s _ Natasha _. Probably the whole team, actually. And I go to the same florist a lot, who makes a lot of suggestive comments…”

Pepper sighed heavily. “Good lord, he’s corrupted Captain America.”

Steve opened his mouth as if to argue, and Pepper holds up a hand. “No, see, the time for talking was eleven months ago, Captain Rogers, now you get to _ listen _.”

Steve’s mouth goes dry and he knew, with unwavering certainty, that their little secret was about to become everyone’s headline. He wanted to get to Tony before Pepper, but once she got the story out of him, she immediately went into damage control mode, nearly dragging him down to Tony’s lab with her, before he can so much as text him a warning. 

Tony saw Steve before Pepper and the look on her face, and his warm “Hi, sweetheart,” is the final straw. 

“Hello, darling,” Pepper replied darkly, scowling, and Tony looked from Steve to Pepper and back again, a smirk on his face. 

“Well, this lasted longer than I thought it would,” he shrugged, laughing at Pepper’s eye roll. 

“Here’s what we’re going to do…” She starts, and Steve tries not to laugh at the way he can _ see _ Tony’s eyes glaze over.

\--

“I really don’t think a press conference is necessary,” Tony says for the millionth time that morning. “It’s not like we can take back the last _ year _ , not that I would ever want to. I don’t know _ how _ to pretend we just started dating,” Tony grumbles. 

He rolls his eyes and pretends to be annoyed, though Steve can see through the annoyance to the uncertainty that was clear in Tony’s voice. At least, it was clear to Steve. Even though their friends knew, and the rest of the world was conspiring to figure it out, their relationship had been their own. That pact they made, so long ago now, had seen them through the early and uncertain stages of their relationship, and now here they were, ready to announce it to the world. It was a big step, but Steve knew they didn’t really need that bubble of secrecy, not anymore. 

“I know sweetheart,” Steve says, leaning in and kissing him before they took to the stage, ready to effectively wear their hearts on their sleeves for the world to see. It was terrifying and exciting and Steve grabs Tony’s hand and fixes him with a smile. 

“We’ll just stick to the script, answer our allotted three questions, then get out of there, deal?”

Tony squeezes his hand. “Fine, but only because you look so good when you’re trying to be all confident. You should be a motivational speaker, Captain. But just for me,” Tony adds with a wink. 

Steven tries to keep the pleased flush from his face, because yes, a year into their relationship and Tony can still do that. He lets go of Tony’s hand as they walk up the few steps and onto the stage, and he really did plan to stick to the script, until Tony laced their hands together once more, smiling at him with a confidence Steve knew all too well. He also knew it meant Tony was about to throw their carefully constructed plan out the window. 

Tony wishes the crowd a good morning, looking as comfortable on stage as he always did. Steve was admiring how great Tony looked up there, how friendly and at ease he was in the face of all this, when he feels more than hears the room go completely silent. Tony’s voice is low and earnest now, and Steve focuses in on it.

“... The truth is,” Tony was saying, “Is that I love Steve Rogers. Captain America. Star-spangled Man with a Plan. Have for most of my life, if I’m being completely honest, which is why we’re here today, right? Honesty. I loved him before I knew what love really was, long before I knew the man behind the mask. But then I met him, right? They were putting together a _ team _ and I would be there with the one and only Steve Rogers. And I knew I was really and truly done from that first day. Because he was everything, _ everything _ and then some. Everything I’d imagined my whole life, how smart and well-spoken and gallant and yeah… _ hot _ . It was all true. And here I am, just … _ hopeless _. So, for the last year we tried it out, kept things quiet. That was my idea, I wanted him all to myself, at least for a little while. I can be selfish like that. But I’m getting off track, sorry, Ms. Potts,” Tony winks at Pepper, who is now sitting with her head in her hands. 

“My point _ is,” _ Tony continues, looking only at Steve now. “Is that I love him, for the last year, for the last thirty years. We’re together, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Steve is trying to pick his jaw up off the floor as Tony comes to realize what he’d just said, an exhilarated blush covering his cheeks, but then the stunned silence gives way to a deafening roar. People seemed to be yelling that they knew it, that they’d hoped it would be true, all of it distilling into an overwhelming _ buzz _. Steve grins at Tony and nothing could keep him from leaning over and kissing him full on the mouth after a declaration like that. It’s a picture-perfect moment, the two of them on stage, surrounded by the press, the team, and their friends, smiling into each other’s lips. It’s a moment that would be on every website and blog and newspaper in the morning, each declaring that the love story of Iron Man and Captain America was one for the ages.

Steve might be a little biased on this one, but he found that he had to agree. 


End file.
